Very Fine+, Extremely Rare.

This coin is evidently machine-struck and bears the legend of Ahmed Shah Durrani. It bears the date '1893'. There exist comparable coins in the British Museum and Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge.
The conventional attribution for this coin is to Jind after reckoning the date in Vikram Samwat. VS1893 would correspond to 1837AD, and Raja Sarup Singh of Jind was crowned in that year. This has been the justification for the attribution.
However, all the known coins of this kind are clearly machine-struck and the possibility of manufacturing coins with aid of machinesin the Punjab is next to none at such an early date.Considering the date to be 1893AD takes us in a different direction for its attribution. In that year, the Maharaja of Patiala, Rajinder Singh (1876-1900) was awarded the Knighthood of the Order of the Star of India. Also, another interesting event that took place on 13 April 1893. This was Rajinder Singh's second marriage to an Irish woman, named Florence Bryan, who was the sister of the Maharaja's stable keeper. Against all official advice, the Maharaja, madly in love with Florence, went ahead and married her. She was converted to Sikhism and named 'Maharani Harnam Kaur'. The wedding was attended by many dignitaries in spite of the Imperial government's admonitions.
The coin, offered here is a 'presentation issue' or 'Nazarana', was struck using machines at this time. It is interesting to note that the only other comparably dated and designed coin, also regarded as a 'special issue' although not machine-struck, has the date '1944' (Stephen Album Rare Coins, Auction 25, lot 1126) If we reckon this in VS, we get 1888AD, which is the year in which Rajinder Singh married first time. It is therefore logical to take the machine-struck coin as a commemorative of his second marriage. Perhaps, the choice of an AD date on it was prompted by the fact that the second queen was European. A 'non-nazarana' strike of the coin is also known and was offered at Stephen Album Rare Coins, Auction 25, as lot 1124.
This is possibly the first piece in private hands.